Speech Costs U.K. MEP Lunch Money

At the European Parliament last week. Nigel Farage, leader of the anti-EU U.K. Independence Party, ferociously harangued Herman Van Rompuy, the former Belgian leader who is now president of the European Union. “I don’t want to be rude,” Mr. Farage said to a rising chorus of boos. “But, really, you have the charisma of a damp rag, and the appearance of a low-grade bank clerk. And the question that I’m going to ask, that I want to ask, is who are you? I’ve never heard of you. Nobody in Europe has ever heard of you.”

Mr. Van Rompuy, a sober intellectual who writes Haiku poetry responded only by, when it came his turn to speak, politely condemning Mr. Farage’s tirade.

But on Monday, Jerzy Buzek, the president of the Parliament, took the unusual step of suspending Mr. Farage’s “right to ten days’ daily allowance as a Member,” he said in a statement.

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As part of their generous remuneration package, MEPs receive allowances of €298 per day. That means Mr. Farage’s speech cost him €2,980 — roughly $4,000.

Mr. Buzek threw in a free civics lesson. “As a former member of the Polish Solidarity movement, I myself fought for free speech,” he added. “But with freedom comes responsibility — in this case, to respect the dignity of others and of our institutions.”

About Real Time Brussels

The Wall Street Journal’s Brussels blog is produced by the Brussels bureau of The Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones Newswires. The bureau has been headed since 2009 by Stephen Fidler, who was previously a correspondent and editor for the Financial Times and Reuters. Also posting regularly: Matthew Dalton, Viktoria Dendrinou, Tom Fairless, Naftali Bendavid, Laurence Norman, Gabriele Steinhauser and Valentina Pop.